Money Concepts Capital Corp Raises Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Money Concepts Capital Corp grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 7.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,440 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,712,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $664.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $803.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $719.29.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $4.09 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $717.66. 8,551,071 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,078,451. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $747.90. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.99, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.28. The company's 50 day moving average price is $651.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $628.50.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $740.97, for a total transaction of $383,081.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 7,853 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,818,837.41. This trade represents a 6.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $704.89, for a total transaction of $365,837.91. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 28,145 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,839,129.05. This trade represents a 1.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 153,766 shares of company stock valued at $105,135,650 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.